Submitted by Lisa Priebe, Assistant Director, Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC), lpriebe@clicweb.org

 

The Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) was awarded a 2012-2013 LSTA grant to help pay migration costs for several small rural libraries to AspenCat, a union catalog of 35 small public, school, academic, and special libraries. AspenCat runs on an open source Koha system that collectively shares over 600,000 items, plus an eBook collection on the 3M Cloud platform. The new libraries will be migrated from December 2012-September 2013. They include Northern Saguache Library District, Conejos County Library District, Berthoud Community Library, La Veta Public Library, Lyons Depot Library, and Norwood Public Library. We anticipate another one to three libraries will also take advantage of this unique opportunity. The Lyons Depot Library conversion will be done manually using library school students, library, and CLiC staff. For more information contact Lisa Priebe, lpriebe@clicweb.org.

Submitted by Diantha Dow Schull, DDSchull Associates, www.ddschull.com

 

It is my pleasure to announce publication of 50+ Library Services: Innovation in Action, published by ALA Editions. This book examines the key issues driving change in how libraries work with older adults, and explores the implications of these changes for the library profession. The research involved documentation of hundreds of projects and programs and I thank all of you who contributed ideas and examples.  

If you would like to order a copy of the book see:  http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=3311 . The coupon code SLSA13 will reduce the cost by $5 and can be used on the online store, or via phone or fax orders. I would greatly appreciate your assistance in circulating information on the new book, and the discount, to members of your library community.  

For information on other new trends in libraries and museums – and the grantmakers that support their work — please visit my new website: www.ddschull.com.   You will find posts on the California Reads program, on expansion of the Family Place Libraries model for early learning and parent support, and on how libraries across the country are adopting creative aging programs. You will also find information on the upcoming preconference on Creative Aging (http://www.ala.org/offices/ppo-ac2013) at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago in June.

It is an exciting time to be working with institutions that promote knowledge, imagination and access to information, and I am looking forward to reporting my observations on the visions, challenges and accomplishments of these institutions in the coming years.  As one example, I plan to use the website to highlight new examples of innovative 50+ services, which are being continuously developed as libraries respond to demographic change. 

For those of you with whom I have worked in the past, this message serves as an opportunity for re-connection.  For the last four years I have been much occupied with writing, consulting, teaching and two wondrous little granddaughters.  Although I am not on Facebook, nor do I Twitter, I hope to stay in closer touch with you.  I look forward to your comments on the book and the website and to learning your thoughts on new developments on the library landscape.

Submitted by Jason LeDuc, Director of Sales, Counting Opinions, jleduc@countingopinions.com

 

The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records is a multi-faceted organization with six divisions. The Library Development Division provides consulting and best practices services, continuing education, and summer reading and early literacy programs, as well as administering LSTA grant funding and collecting public library statistics.

The organization faced the challenge of collecting and managing a variety of data. According to Laura Stone, Grants Administrator, the library wanted more control over how data collection for the annual Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) survey was set up and more flexibility in accessing the data for reporting. They also wanted to collect data in areas beyond what was required. “We were using a tool to help collect data but we didn’t feel it offered the flexibility we needed. We wanted to add questions and collect data other that what IMLS requires and the tool we were using didn’t give us the control over how our data was set up in order to get what we wanted.”

Stone says Library Development was attracted to LibPASLibrary Performance Assessment Service because of the versatility in managing the collection of statistics as well as the creation of reports and data products that they could share with their libraries. Although initially interested in LibPASLibrary Performance Assessment Service because of the data collection they could do for IMLS, they wanted to explore how the product could also be used to gather and manage other types of data from their libraries. “Library Development has so many programs for which data needs to be collected,” says Chris Guerra, Project Specialist. “We saw in LibPASLibrary Performance Assessment Service the functionality and flexibility to incorporate multiple sets of data that otherwise don’t have any relation to each other.”

Fiscal year 2010-2011 was the State Library’s first full year of data collection using LibPASLibrary Performance Assessment Service. For fiscal year 2011-2012, the library added two large question sets. The first focused on the programs in the State Library’s five-year LSTA plan. “We have 20-plus different programs outlined in our plan,” says Stone. “We wanted to gather data from the libraries on how involved they are in each of those programs so that we can prioritize our resources. We were able to add these questions in-house and that was really important to us. We will use the data to drive our decisions on which programs to pursue actively. When we evaluate our plan we’ll have this comparison data to draw upon.”

The second question set focused on ebooks. Stone says this is such a big initiative for the State Library that it is important to get a better picture of what libraries are doing to make ebooks available to their patrons. They were able to drill down and ask very specific questions and to produce reports looking at ebook data that was used with the statewide planning committee. She expects that the questions about ebooks will continue to evolve so the ability to add and change questions to collect the type of data that is important for the State Library to be tracking is a tremendous time-saver.

“Being able to ask these two question sets within our traditional statistical gathering was really important to us,” Stone says. “This was the kind of flexibility we were looking for when we selected LibPASLibrary Performance Assessment Service. Having this tool gives us the data to support good decisions going forward.”

Stone says the library also was able to use the tool outside the scope of standard data collection. The State Library received two BTOP (Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program) grants from the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The first – BTOP 1 – was to put computers in 84 libraries across the state. It was not difficult to track the statistics from this first grant, says Stone. But BTOP 2 was a more complex project with two components: Job Help Hub and Virtual Workforce Workstations. The goal of BTOP 2 was to position libraries to help job seekers by providing both computers and trainers. The State Library needed a way to collect information from the approximately 200 participating public libraries on a monthly basis.

The solution was to provide participating libraries with separate IDs and passwords in LibPASLibrary Performance Assessment Service to log in to record their BTOP statistics. “This was completely separate from our IMLS data collection,” Stone says. “We needed this data on a monthly basis, not annually as with IMLS. It needed to be easy for the libraries to enter their own data on programming, attendance, topics, computer usage, and more. Getting this project up and running and managing it has been a fast and furious undertaking. This solution made it possible for us to meet our BTOP reporting requirements while also addressing the libraries’ needs.”

Stone stressed how the ability to use LibPASLibrary Performance Assessment Service to streamline data gathering for BTOP has made a huge difference for Library Development staff as well as for participating libraries. “It is a big deal for us that people have a consistent place to enter and retrieve data for reports. Something like SurveyMonkey would require a survey to be developed and implemented every month with a new URL for collecting responses and we wouldn’t have a good way to tie those statistics together from month to month. LibPASLibrary Performance Assessment Service cumulates the data and makes it accessible all in one place.”

Submitted by Jessica Stewart, Master’s Degree Candidate, Library and Information Science-School Media

 

Librarians who are well trained in providing high level services to their patrons with disabilities results in patrons who will have access to information resources and technologies for learning equal to their non-disabled peers. The ultimate consequence to these patrons is the enhanced aid in becoming well-informed, well-educated, literate citizens. An online survey was posted by the Center for Digital Literacy to three school library listservs (LM_NET, AASL forum, schmedia@syr.edu) from November 6-14, 2011. A total of 331 school librarians nationwide responded. Results indicated that respondents rated their knowledge from minimal to nonexistent in the following areas:

(1) types of disabilities (25.7%; 85),

(2) disability law (55.3%; 183)

(3) assistive technology (59.8%; 198)

(4) IEPs/IEP process (30.8%; 102)

(5) accessibility (42.3%; 140)

(6) Universal Design/UD for Learning (69.2%; 229),

and from barely effective to totally ineffective (60.1%; 199) in policies for modifying programs/resources. These results further indicate the need for training available nationwide to those working with students with disabilities.

Project ENABLE (Expanding Nondiscriminatory Access By Librarians Everywhere), funded by grants from the Institute of Museum & Library Services (IMLS), provides high quality, comprehensive, and free train-the-trainer professional development to New York State school librarians. This training helps these professionals develop and deliver effective library and information services to students with disabilities. In the summer of 2011, we provided face-to-face professional development for 35 teams of educators (school librarians, special educators and classroom teachers) from New York State. In November 2012, we launched a comprehensive, multimedia, freely accessible training website.

An IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Continuation Grant is allowing the expansion of face-to-face workshops nationally this summer. Recruiting has begun for three-person teams (librarian, general educator, special educator), as well as fifteen school library faculty from graduate school library programs, to attend a four-and-a-half-day workshop on the Syracuse University campus –  either June 22-26 or August 5-9 in 2013. Applications and detailed information for these workshop opportunities are available on the Project ENABLE site (http://projectenable.syr.edu/WORKSHOPS/Applications). The workshop curriculum will expand on the same curriculum areas addressed during the 2011 summer workshops, integrate content from the training website, and incorporate collaboration and hands-on learning experiences (e.g., assessing accessibility of a library design, using legal standards, assessing lesson plans using UDL standards, etc.).

The Project ENABLE training Web site (Register for free at http://projectenable.syr.edu) targets educators, but this training is believed to be beneficial to public librarians, academic librarians, parents, administrators, instructors supporting diverse learners, and pre-service librarians and teachers.

To participate in the Project ENABLE training, register for free at http://projectenable.syr.edu to engage in five interactive, self-paced learning modules. These modules are jam-packed with useful information in a variety of formats (text, video, photos, graphics, audio over PowerPoint and more). You can even use our in-text editor to record your ideas and save these to Your Profile to review or edit later. Need to redesign your space to meet accessibility standards under laws you will learn about in our training? We offer an interactive room design activity to redesign your space.

Are you looking to embed this training in your institution’s professional development plan, or host your own course, training, or workshop to further educate librarians in working with individuals, specifically students, with disabilities? The website offers the ability to create group accounts, which allow instructors, administrators, and supervisors the opportunity to host a class and track the progress of colleagues and staff. Anyone completing all five learning modules and scoring at least 3 out of 5 on each module quiz will automatically receive a certificate of completion. For example, at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies, the School Media Specialization program offers a course entitled “Library Services to Students with Disabilities,” basing its content and discussions upon the Project ENABLE training site. The instructor of the course uses the Project ENABLE website extensively to support and enrich in-class instruction and discussions. Students take what they have learned from the Project ENABLE training site and engage in thought-provoking, candid, and invaluable discussions and reflections on how pre-service educators can accommodate students, preK-12, with disabilities both in and out of the library.

This organic site is constantly adding more information and ideas for librarians. We are currently working on adding information for practitioners, administrators, and supervisors who may be interested in providing face-to-face workshops and sessions to their colleagues and employees. This will include workshop outlines, face-to-face exercises and activities, handouts, and other materials that facilitate this type of teaching and learning.

Visit http://projectenable.syr.edu to register for the Project ENABLE training to make a difference in your school or community, as well as develop your personal growth as a future or practicing librarian. Just click on the pink Login/Register button in the top right corner of the home page. Registration is required, but everything on the site is free for you to use as much as, and when you need it. After registering, you will have access to your personal information, any notes you take, and any test scores or certificates you receive just by viewing Your Profile.

We welcome your feedback and questions at any time. Just contact us at cdl@syr.edu.

 

Dr. Ruth V. Small, Ph.D., Laura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor and Founding Director, Center for Digital Literacy

Co-Author Jessica Stewart, Master’s Degree Candidate, Library and Information Science-School Media

Project ENABLE, projectenable.syr.edu

Center for Digital Literacy, digital-literacy.syr.edu

School of Information Studies

Syracuse University

cdl@syr.edu

Submitted by Carrie Banks, Supervising Librarian, The Child’s Place for Children with Special Needs/Kidsmobile, Brooklyn Public Library

 

The Office of Budget and Management has issued new proposed rules for web accessibility.  Please see the link below for additional information.

http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=201210&RIN=1190-AA65

Along the same lines, Raising the Floor is a great source for information on these types of topics. Raising the Floor brings together like-minded people from many different disciplines and backgrounds who share the accessibility goal under whatever label. This includes people from software development, academia, industry (mainstream and Assistive Technology), consumers, non-governmental organizations, governments and activists.  You can learn more at:  http://raisingthefloor.org/

 

 

Submitted by Christina C. Wray, Librarian, Center for Disability Information and Referral, Indiana Institute on Disability and Community, Indiana University, Bloomington, ccwray@indiana.edu

 

With the advent of the iPhone in July of 2007, the idea of what mobile computing is and could be was forever changed. Since that time, not only have the choices of smart phone technology expanded, but lightweight tablet computers which can access the internet using Wi-Fi or cellular networks have burst onto the market. Mobile devices are well on the way to becoming ubiquitous in our society. The Pew Institute reported that 83% of U.S. adults have cell phones, and 42% of those adults own smartphones. Libraries are also increasingly adding mobile devices to their circulating collections. Creating a core collection of apps for those devices with all patrons in mind can be a daunting task. One group of patrons who may find the ability to borrow mobile devices especially fulfilling are people with disabilities. Mobile applications are being developed that give people with disabilities the tools to live independently and connect to the world around them, but how do you choose which apps will be most useful for your patrons? In July of 2012, 793 apps a day were added to the iTunes App store. This can be very overwhelming for librarians who are tasked with choosing which apps to purchase for their circulating mobile devices. Finding and choosing apps to include so that people with disabilities can fully engage with devices adds another layer of complexity to the selection processes.

While apps are generally inexpensive compared to traditional software or assistive technology devices, there are rarely demos available for users to test full versions of the app before buying. This can make for a frustrating mobile experience as well as costly experimentation. Librarians are in a position to help guide user experiences and provide an opportunity for patrons to experiment with apps as well as the device to see if it will meet their needs. Developing a core collection of apps that can be used to help people with disabilities can be a valuable addition to libraries’ iPad programming. Word of mouth is one way for users to get more information about how specific apps work for people with disabilities; however it is often hard for people with disabilities to connect with others who have the same needs as they do. Luckily, social media has made it significantly easier for interested parties to connect with each other. For this study, a selection of 287 applications were identified as apps for people with disabilities by compiling a list of apps recommended through blogs and Facebook by parents, educators and service providers who work with people with disabilities. The apps were examined in an effort to ascertain what types of apps were being marketed for people with disabilities, how the apps were classified, and to identify areas in which further development would be appreciated.

For this study, applications were gathered from 5 different sources in August of 2011:

ITunes Special Education Subcategory:  In October of 2010, Apple added a sub-category to the Education apps for apps developed for people with disabilities.  This does not appear to be an active subcategory.

Apps for Children with Disabilities top 100 Apps: This list was developed by a very active Facebook community of the Apps for Children with Special Needs website. It is a compilation of the “the most popular among special needs parents and professionals”.

Autism Epicenter: The Autism Epicenter is a website maintained by parent, Shane Nurnberg, who also works in the disability field. The apps are reviewed on a five star scale and are not specific to autism.

Mobile Learning for Special Needs Wiki:  This wiki was developed and is maintained by Luis Perez, a doctoral student in special education at the University of South Florida. 

Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence Apps Guide: This list of resources was developed by Heather Bridgman and Nick Weiland at the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence.

These five sources were chosen for the diversity of backgrounds of the list developers. With this selection, the final list is influenced by app developers, professionals in the field, educators, parents and people with disabilities. By ensuring that interested parties from a variety of perspectives had a role in compiling the source lists used to create the list of apps that were evaluated, it was hoped to limit the biases that each group inherently contributed to their recommendations. Each application was assigned one of 10 categories based on their primary function. The categories are:

Communication: Apps assigned to the communication category are designed to help people communicate with others either as an alternative communication device or in a therapeutic role including ASL acquisition.

Daily Living Skills: Apps assigned to the daily living skills category help users develop skills and routines for day to day activities.

Literacy:  Literacy applications help users improve reading and writing skills including braille.

Motor skills: These apps help users improve their fine motor skills.

Organization & Study:  The apps categorized as organization & study apps support users with scheduling, note taking, visual thinking and other day to day tasks.

Reinforcement/Data:  These apps help users and caregivers model, reward and reinforce behaviors as well as track and record behavior patterns.

Sensory: Sensory applications help users enhance and understand their senses.  This category also includes apps that are targeted for users with sensory processing disorders.

Social Competence:  The social competence apps are apps that are specifically designed to help users develop social skills.

Specific Learning: These apps are designed to enhance users learning in a specific skill set.  Each app assigned to the specific learning category was assigned one of nine subcategories to identify the focus of the app. The subcategories are: Art, Fundamentals, Geography, Math, Music, Pattern Recognition, Storytelling, Transition and Trivia.

Other: The apps in the other category are a collection of apps that did not clearly fall into one of the other categories.  These apps were also assigned a subcategory.  The subcategories were: Assessment, IEPs, Games, Reference and Classroom Management.

A list of core apps determined by comparing the number of source lists on which a specific app appeared was also developed.  This list is comprised of those apps which appeared on three or more of the source lists.  This ensures that the app is popular with a diverse group of people who have different roles in the lives of people with disabilities.

Of the 286 apps analyzed, 49, or 17% of the apps were only available on iPad, the rest of the applications would work on any up to date apple platform. Communication (23%), Specific Learning (18%) and Literacy (18%) were the most popular categories. 

 Within the specific learning category, apps that focused on math skills (31%) and fundamentals (25%) such as learning colors, shapes, the alphabet, etc. were the most frequent subcategories.

Only one app, Proloquo2Go, appeared on all five source lists. Five apps appeared on four of the lists, 19 apps appeared on three of the five lists, 43 apps appeared on two of the five lists and 218 apps appeared on only one of the lists. Of the 25 apps which appeared on three or more lists, 10 were marketed to the autism community. The majority of the apps listed on three or more lists were Communication apps (17), followed by Organization & Study Skills apps (5).

It is not surprising that apps that help users communicate and interact with the world around them are the most popular apps with the professionals, parents and caregivers who contributed to the development of the lists of apps utilized for this project. iPads as well as the even smaller and more portable iPhones/iPod Touches are more affordable and more mobile than traditional communication devices. The additional functionality of the devices may make them more appealing than some of the traditional devices which only serve one function. However, like any multitasking devices, it may not be a good fit for some users with disabilities because they are not designed specifically to be used by people with disabilities. The majority of the apps included in this study do not seem to be targeting users with severe cognitive or motor disabilities. Only two of the apps, Tap to Speak and RadSounds were specifically designed with switch users in mind. 

The most frequently listed apps in this study, identified as those listed on three or more lists, tend to serve a supportive role rather than a skills acquisition role. In fact, none of the specific learning apps appeared on three or more lists. One reason for this could be that there are many more choices of apps that serve the same basic functions in the skills acquisition categories, versus the more specialized apps in the other categories. Communication supports are the most popular apps by far, followed by apps that help users stay organized and act as memory aids. 

Mobile devices and applications are being utilized in innovative ways to help improve the lives of people with disabilities and create avenues for greater inclusion in school, work and community life. This project provides a glimpse into which apps people with disabilities, their caregivers and service providers are finding to be most helpful in achieving this goal.  Apps are being utilized to help people with disabilities communicate as well as to help them access the information they need to live more independently. 

When selecting apps for circulating mobile devices for people with disabilities, libraries should focus primarily on apps which will help patrons: communicate, remember things and organize tasks. Including apps that will act as assistive technology tools on circulating mobile devices will not only make it easier for patrons with disabilities to fully enjoy these devices, it will also allow for patrons with limited resources to try popular assistive technology apps before investing in technology that may not fit their needs. The nature of apps markets means that the specifics of this study are merely a snapshot in time of the app market; however, identifying the key characteristics of popular apps can help librarians evaluate new apps to gauge how well they will meet the needs of users with disabilities.

Here is the complete list of apps that were included on three or more source lists:

Proloquo2Go    

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/proloquo2go/id308368164?mt=8#

TapSpeak Sequence for iPad     

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tapspeak-sequence-for-ipad/id379541810?mt=8#

Grace – Picture Exchange for Non-Verbal People              

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/grace-picture-exchange-for/id360574688?mt=8#

ArtikPix – Full     

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/artikpix-full/id356720379?mt=8#

First Then Visual Schedule          

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/first-then-visual-schedule/id355527801?mt=8#

Model Me Going Places

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/modelmegoingplaces2/id375669988?mt=8#

Scene Speak     

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scene-speak/id420492342?mt=8#

TapSpeak Button Plus for iPad  

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tapspeak-button-for-ipad/id364806507?mt=8#

Typ-O HD – writing is for everybody        

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/typohdwritingisforeverybody/id372971659?mt=8#

Articulate it!      

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/articulate-it/id391296844?mt=8#

Assistive Chat   

http://itunes.apple.com/app/assistive-chat/id379891874?mt=8#

Dragon Dictation             

http://www.nuancemobilelife.com/apple/dictation.html

FirstWords: Deluxe        

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/firstwordsdeluxe/id337462979?mt=8#

Look2Learn – AAC           

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/look2learnaac/id319600029?mt=8#

OneVoice           

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/onevoice/id412448074?mt=8

Pictello

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pictello/id397858008?mt=8

Speak it! Text to Speech

http://itunes.apple.com/app/speakittexttospeech/id308629295?mt=8#

TapToTalk™       

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/taptotalk/id367083194?mt=8#

iDress for Weather         

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/idressforweather/id385227220?mt=8#

Sentence Builder            

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sentencebuilder/id344378741?mt=8#

iPrompts             

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iprompts-xl/id410386084?mt=8#

Picture Scheduler                           

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/picturescheduler/id315050461?mt=8#

Visules 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/visules/id322543961?mt=8#

Time Timer        

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-timer/id332520417

IEP Checklist      

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iepchecklist/id348702423?mt=8#

Submitted by Camden Tadhg, Acquisitions & Youth Institutions Consultant, Institutional Library Development, Colorado State Library

Do you serve youth in detention and correctional facilities? Are you interested in working with this highly-disenfranchised and incredibly rewarding population? Then check out the newly launched website of Library Services for Youth in Custody at www.youthlibraries.org !

All across America, youth are incarcerated or detained with little or no access to high-interest, culturally relevant library materials or engaging programming. Research has shown that free and independent reading is the number one tool to improve literacy, a vital component to reducing recidivism. Because youth come from and will return to all communities, library services for these youth are vital to everyone. This site is designed to share best practices and facilitate networking between people providing library services to incarcerated and detained youth and to encourage everyone to promote and support high quality library services to incarcerated youth in their communities.

Submitted by Stephanie Shipman, Youth Librarian, Austin Public Library and Karen Brown, Parent Infant Program Teacher – Texas School for the Deaf

Austin, Texas is known for many things – the state capital, home of the University of Texas, Live Music Capital of the World. It is also home of the Texas School for the Deaf, a residential and day school program serving Deaf and hard of hearing students, birth through 22 years.  In order to serve families of young children within the large deaf community in Austin, the Twin Oaks Branch of Austin Public Library has instituted a program called StorySign. 

StorySign is a sign language storytime for deaf and hearing families. A deaf storyteller signs the stories while an interpreter voices for the hearing. The program is a collaboration between Austin Public Library (APL) and the Texas School for the Deaf (TSD). Austin Public Library provides the location, materials, and staff.  TSD provides the storyteller and interpreter. 

How StorySign came about.                                                                                                                                 

Karen Brown, a teacher at TSD, approached the library with the idea of having some sort of program specifically for Austin’s deaf population. The goals of this program would be to encourage deaf parents to participate in activities with their children, introduce them to the library, and foster a feeling of community among deaf and hearing people alike. She also explained to library staff that children do better in school when parents and caregivers are involved in activities with their children. We know all children love stories, so a sign language storytime seemed the perfect fit to accomplish these goals.

The Twin Oaks Branch is located near TSD and library staff members were excited about implementing this program. Ms. Brown offered parents and caregivers the opportunity to take on the responsibility of getting their children and themselves to the library by scheduling the school day to encourage attendance at the library event. Austin Public Library provided flyers with the monthly dates listed and advertised the storytime on the Library website. A .pdf file of the flyer was also made available to TSD. 

Each storytime begins with a welcome and an opening song which is both voiced and signed. The program typically includes two stories, an interactive song or flannel activity, and a closing song. The youth librarian selects the books and songs each month and leads the storytime alongside the American Sign Language storyteller. An interpreter voices the story and signs for the librarian and families as needed. Everyone then participates in a small craft activity. Everyone works together, sharing materials, and communicating as they can. 

Attendees include hearing children with deaf parents (CODAs), hearing parents with deaf children, deaf parents with deaf children, and hearing parents with hearing children. At times students who are learning sign language in school come to observe and practice their skills. As the children’s librarian in the project , it’s been amazing to watch all the interaction. Parents observe their children having fun as they develop language, confidence, and social skills in a safe, fun environment. 

StorySign has been and continues to be a successful program that promotes interaction among deaf and hearing members of our community. Deaf parents have the opportunity to be involved with the Library in a way they have not had before while hearing participants have the opportunity to learn a few more signs each time. StorySign encourages a life-long relationship with the Library and sends a signal to the entire community that the Austin Public Library is a place for everyone.

How Queens Library Uses Interactive Programs to Enrich Lives of Homebound Customers

Submitted by Madlyn Schneider, Mail A Book Program Manager and Joanne King, Associate Director of Communications, Queens Library.                                                                                                                         

Public libraries in the 21st century provide a lot more than simply lending books, videos and other materials. They are community gathering places. They provide stimulating and entertaining programs, such as performances, panel discussions and book talks. They bring socialization along with lifelong learning and intellectual growth. In December 2008, Queens Library received a grant from the Weinberg Foundation to carry out a long wished-for expansion of its services to homebound and disabled library customers.

The goal was to provide library customers who were to not able to come to the library with more of the benefits of regular library usage than what was currently being offered. In interactions with customers via telephone and letter, staff perceived a lack of community and peer relationships among the program’s users.

For decades, Queens Library has had an active Mail A Book program that delivers free books, videos, audio books and other materials by mail to homebound library customers on request. Customers do not reveal the cause of their homebound status; however the staff know from the kinds of materials that are requested and casual telephone conversations that they range from mobility challenges, hearing and/or vision challenges to psychiatric disorders. For some, it is a temporary situation. A few are children with chronic illness. Mail A Book actively serves approximately 850 individuals.  Mail A Book sends regular print books, large print books, movies and music based on preferences that the customers indicate. Additionally, rotating collections are delivered to 35 nursing homes.

Upon receipt of a grant from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation in December 2008, the Mail A Book program sent out a survey to more than 600 Mail A Book customers. They also did sampling by phone. Again, the cause of the homebound condition is not known; it is inferred that there are a variety of causes. The survey asked questions about the kinds of library materials customers preferred, the quality of service received/desired and what customer would like to see going forward.

The program manager, Madlyn Schneider, and the senior librarian, Willie Simmons, often spend extra minutes chatting with customers on the phone when they call to request library materials. It is a small kindness. They know homebound people often feel isolated, bored and starved for peer relationships. Many have only the part-time company of home health aides with varying degrees of shared language skills and almost no shared experiences. (Of course, not all customers can communicate by phone, but it’s a start).

Using creativity and imagination, the Mail-A-Book staff decided to build on already-strong in-library programming to enrich homebound patrons’ lives and relieve their social isolation very cost-effectively. They combine library know-how with technology.

Part of the grant from the Weinberg Foundation was used to install a teleconferencing console and an 800 phone number that customers would use to call in. Since the library already had a full schedule of live programs, many of which are enjoyable if only the audio portion is available, it was a simple matter of making them available on the phone console. Other programs are conducted solely for the benefit of the homebound customers. One particularly valuable program is a twice-weekly chat.

The Mail-a-Book staff canvassed homebound subscribers and set up regular times for them to phone in to their toll-free number. Chats sometimes follow a pre-set agenda, such as discussion of a book or TV program that all have agreed to watch, or it may be freewheeling conversation. There are about 20 regular weekly chatters, and several others who participate occasionally. Staff facilitate the conversation and have ice-breaker topics at the ready. The participants often takeoff on their own topics: which food stores deliver, the problems of being homebound, even intimacy among adults with limited mobility. In a short time, the chatters have formed strong bonds. It is a chance to enjoy friendships for which they are very hungry.

For the first time, participants were invited to join special phone-in sessions on New Year’s Eve 2010 and on New Year’s Day 2011. During previous conversations, it became apparent that the homebound feel particularly isolated during the New Year, when most people traditionally celebrate in groups, and when caregivers find it a burden (and quite possibly source of resentment) to spend time with them. 

Homebound library customers participate in “special events,” such as a concert that is being held in the library. Often, the program presenter will spend a few minutes after the program to chat with those who are phoning in. To play monthly bingo, game cards are mailed to the players in advance. Everybody wins a small prize, which is later sent by mail. The Mail-A-Book staff  conduct monthly book groups over the phone and invite guest speakers to lecture and discuss their area of specialty.   The Metropolitan Museum of Art does a multi-part lecture series; print reproductions of artworks to be discussed are sent out to registered participants in advance. There are sing-alongs and trivia games. Twice each month a Doctor from “Doctors on Call” and a Nurse from “Calvary Hospice” along with student nurses from York College and Pace University call in to discuss relevant health topics with the homebound. An amateur local drama group performs live comedy routines. The homebound participants are always ready to try something new. Ms. Schneider moderates the Facebook Group “Mail a Book @ Queens Library”, where members submit book reviews and interact with staff and each other.  Weekly Skype chats are new to the program. Very few of the users are computer-literate enough to take advantage, but that may change as time goes on.

The weekly chatters occasionally get together for a luncheon at a local restaurant. Although it takes several weeks to organize, and they have to travel by disability transport, in wheelchairs and with walkers, several of the regulars have been able to attend, escorted by family members and home health aides. The homebound folks have often never met in person before, but hug and converse as if they were the best of buddies — and they are. The Mail-A-Book staff has a gift bag ready for each to take home. The event has the quality of a near-miracle.

The interactive Mail-A-Book programming piggy-backs on many of the library programs that are already in place. It is cost-effective and easily replicated by other public libraries. Challenges are reaching out to potential users and interesting them in participating. Many homebound are self-conscious about speech or hearing impediments.

The program’s main assets are the caring and creativity of its staff. With all their hearts, they want to enrich homebound customers’ lives and give them the same opportunities other users have to benefit from the community and lifelong learning available at their library. They are conducting an average of ten live programs a month, in addition to the delivery of library materials. There is also a related newsletter. During a recent advocacy campaign for funding, the homebound customers were asked to write to their elected officials in support of the library. Many did. It gave them equity in their library as well as emphasized that their homebound status does not disenfranchise them.  

Interactive programming is a relatively cost-effective adjunct to the regular Mail-A-Book program.  In Calendar 2009, a one-year grant from the Weinberg Foundation was obtained through the efforts of the Queens Library Foundation. It purchased the audio conferencing equipment and needed telecommunications line (one-time charge of $3,000) plus additional funding for library materials in English and multiple languages, additional large-print and multi-media collections. It also allocated $5,000 for marketing the Mail A Book program, and funds to pay for program presenters.  Additionally, library staff volunteer their time to facilitate programs. An example is a library staff member with a personal interest in classic film who conducts discussions on 1940s and 1950s movie stars. (Valued at $1,000 annually in program fees).

Homebound customers receive a tiny percentage of the 23 million library items Queens Library circulates every year. In terms of the impact on their lives, it means the whole world.

For further information on Queens Library’s interactive programs for the homebound, feel free to contact Madlyn.S.Schneider@queenslibrary.org.